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Despite the cold Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is growing daily in members and energy. So a huge welcome to all the new members and a big thank you to existing students who have been assisting with teaching new members the ropes.

While we’ve been busy practising triangles and guard passes lately, it’s key to remember that Docklands BJJ practises a self defense style of jiu jitsu that is applicable to real life situations. Our sessions are suitable for beginners and it’s never too late to join up and learn some great Jiu Jitsu moves!

Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is excited to announce that it is now running kids martial arts classes with Melbourne Kids Karate at our Docklands Hub venue. The classes will be run by experienced Karate master, Sensei Rodney Mcleod.

Current members will recognise Rodney as the high level blue belt with great wrestling and triangle attacks, however Rodney actually comes from a Karate background having practised it for over 15 years. Hence the Melbourne Kids Karate classes will incorporate Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and freestyle wrestling, along with the Karate.

Docklands Jiu Jitsu is excited to announce that from the 16th of August 2011 we will be trialling a third stand up techniques class.

Bilal Abdo will begin instructing weekly stand up technique sessions on Tuesday evenings starting from 16th of August 2011. Bilal is an accomplished freestyle wrestler who competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the 96kg division and finish an impressive 4th overall. As well as being a strong competitor, Bilal is a fantastic coach and we’re excited to have him as part of the team.

Given that Tuesdays class will be stand up techniques, we will now also be starting Monday Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sessions from Monday the 15th of August 2011. So to summarise, from the 15th of August 2011 the schedule will be as follows:

For the past week members of Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu have had the opportunity to learn from 8th degree Red Black belt Pedro Sauer in his very first visit to Australia. During his week-long tour, Pedro’s schedule included being the special guest at the inaugural Australian Jiu Jitsu Classic, hosting a mega six hour seminar and performing a number of gradings.

Most prominently, Pedro graded Nexus Academy leader Murat Karadenizli who successfully received his black belt. The Nexus Gracie Academy is the parent academy of Docklands BJJ, and as such it was an enormous occasion for everyone involved. On behalf of everyone at Docklands Brazilian Jiu JItsu, we congratulate Murat on this incredible achievement.

In addition to Murat’s grading, Docklands BJJ instructor Phil Grapsas also received his brown belt, reflecting many years of dedication and hard training. Once again, we congratulate Phil on his well deserved brown belt, and look forward to seeing him continue his improvement towards gaining a black belt someday.

Overall, Pedro visit was a life-changing experience. Not only did he share incredible techniques with us, he also gifted us with his positive philosophies and deep life experiences. The feedback received from the seminar was that it was the best anyone had ever attended. Many thanks to Pedro for taking the time to come to Australia and we certainly look forward to his next visit.

I hope everyone’s well rested from the break because training sessions at Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu have now officially resumed! 2011 is looking to be an absolutely fantastic year especially with our revised training program and the continuing growth of the Australian Jiu Jitsu Alliance team.

A reminder that we have now started Wednesday lunch sessions which will occur from 12:00pm midday to 1:00pm at our venue in The Hub Docklands. Should the session prove popular, the plan is to start more lunch sessions. So if you are interested in more lunch training sessions, please show your support for it!

Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will be closed for a period of 2.5 weeks for the Christmas and New Years break period. Additionally as a Docklands event is occurring on Thursday the 16th of December 2010, this session will be moved to Tuesday the 21st of December 2010. So to clarify the open and closing dates, the last and first sessions for 2010 and 2011 are listed below.

Last session of 2010: Tuesday the 21st of December 2010
First session of 2011: Tuesday the 11th of January 2011

On the bright side however, we are excited to announce that we will be beginning Wednesday lunchtime training sessions from 12:00pm midday to 1:00pm every Wednesday beginning the 12th of January 2011. This will be in addition to the two evening occurring on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The lunchtime sessions are a great opportunity to do some extra Jiu Jitsu and for office workers, a fantastic way to spend a lunchtime.

Overall 2010 has been a fantastic year for Docklands BJJ in Melbourne, and we’re very much looking forward to the exciting new developments in 2011. Stay tuned for more, and in the meanwhile train hard!

Under the Australian Jiu Jitsu Alliance (AJJA) banner with the Nexus team, Docklands BJJ competed at the annual Pan Pacific Jiu Jitsu Championships. With over 52 teams competing and nearly 800 competitors, the Pan Pacs is the biggest Jiu Jitsu competition in Australia if not Asia. Overall, the AJJA team placed third despite having formed only two months ago and with far fewer competitors entered.

Docklands BJJ is thrilled to be part of the Australian Jiu Jitsu Alliance and with such strong competition results just two months in, the sky’s the limit! Congratulations to everyone who competed and a big thank you to those who came and supported us.

Nexus BJJ has just recently co-founded the Australian Jiu Jitsu Alliance with the Australian Elite Team and Dan Cherubin Jiu Jitsu. Each member academy will continue to operate their schools independently however at competitions everyone will come under the one Alliance banner.

As Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is in the Nexus BJJ family of schools, this in turn means that our members will be part of Australian Jiu Jitsu Alliance. This is very exciting news as it opens the door for our members to train with with over 200+ students in the Alliance not to mention the opportunity to learn from notable Jiu Jitsu masters such as Murat Karazendeli, Ninos Dammo and Dan Cherubin. While much more is currently being planned, as a start regular seminars will be conducted as well as internal competitions and even training camps.

For those of us at Docklands Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, we are absolutely thrilled to be part of the new Alliance. Huge congratulations to Murat, Ninos and Dan for making it happen. We’re all looking forward to the great new opportunities and can’t wait to train with everyone.

The Royler Gracie seminar at our parent gym Nexus BJJ was a great success! Thank you to all friends and members who attended, and of course the biggest thanks goes to Royler himself who taught some incredible techniques. The feedback was unanimous – it was the best seminar everyone had been to and Royler really did live up to his name. As the three time ADCC champion, each of the moves shown by Royler were very practical and easy to pick up.

Thanks also go to Murat and Pat for organising the seminar and getting the numbers together for what was a highly enjoyable learning experience. Please see the Photos page to see some snapshots of the event.

Exciting news for all our Jiu Jitsu members – we now have a brand new set of mats! We’ve now removed the old set and have replaced them with 4mm thick Zebra mats. These are the same mats as used in the Victorian BJJ and Pan Pacific BJJ Championships which will help us all to become competition ready.

In literally other news, we are happy to see articles about Docklands BJJ in local media such as the Docklands News and Docklands 3000. This page will be updated soon with scans of the articles.

Finally, can all members please remember that the Royler Gracie seminar being hosted by our parent gym Nexus BJJ will be occurring on Friday the 6th of August 2010 from 6pm onwards. For more details, please call Murat on 0401 582 738.